Art collector Charles Saatchi has announced he has filed for divorce from Nigella Lawson - citing her refusal to defend his reputation after he was pictured with his hand around her neck at a restaurant.

In a statement, the 70-year-old told The Mail On Sunday: "I am sorry to announce that Nigella Lawson and I are getting divorced.

"I feel that I have clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so, and I am disappointed that she was advised to make no public comment to explain that I abhor violence of any kind against women, and have never abused her physically in any way."

The couple were pictured on June 9 showing Saatchi with his hand around the 53-year-old celebrity chef's throat.

While this newspaper abhors violence against women, we do not see condemnation of an assault as a reason to intrude into the complexities of a couple’s marriage.

Some people have called for us to drop Mr Saatchi’s regular column on photography, which appears today in the newspaper.

Our view is that the police decided a caution was a proper response to the offence. It is overstepping our jurisdiction to go further.

Should a person who has accepted a caution be barred from writing about art? Should the Saatchi Gallery be closed? Should he face total ruin?

We decline to go beyond what the law considers appropriate.

We believe that Mr Saatchi’s column is not relevant in its subject matter to recent events — and that it would be irrational and unjust to drop it just because it has been a wretched week for this marriage.

The shadow home secretary said Nick Clegg demonstrated "how little he understands violence against women" after he said Charles Saatchi's assault of wife Nigella Lawson could have been "a fleeting thing."

The Deputy Prime Minister has risked criticism after using the word "fleeting" to describe an incident of alleged domestic violence between Nigella Lawson and her husband Charles Saatchi.

Asked on his LBC radio phone-in what his reaction would have been if he had been present during the alleged altercation, Nick Clegg urged caution because the details of the incident, for which Saatchi accepted a police caution for assault, were not clear.

"When you see a couple having an argument, most people just assume that the couple will resolve it themselves," Mr Clegg said.

He told the London Evening Standard: "Although Nigella made no complaint I volunteered to go to Charing Cross station and take a police caution after a discussion with my lawyer because I thought it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months."

Mr Saatchi accepted the caution after photographs emerged appearing to show him grabbing his wife's throat.